Counting Down to 90 - Week 1548 - Random Fort Kochi Musings

The Concept Explained

Counting Down to 90 - Week 1579

Why 1579

Bhavin's WritingsBhavin Jankharia

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When we decided to stay in Fort Kochi during a short work-vacation this weekend, one of my local Kochi colleagues was surprised and said, “But what is there in Fort Kochi?” It is like me getting surprised if someone chooses to stay at the Taj Palace opposite the Gateway of India in Mumbai, instead of one of the airport or mid-town hotels…where is the comparison?

We stayed at the Brunton Boatyard, a converted boat yard on the harbor, directly overlooking the water, quaint, with a lot of woodwork and the unmatched CGH Earth hospitality.

What immediately struck me about Fort Kochi was the water transport. There is a RoRo from Fort Kochi to Vypin that takes cars and bikes and people (and people pay just Rs. 3) just like the Mumbai-Alibag-Mumbai RoRo, but much smaller and with a frequency during peak hours of once every 10 minutes. We were able to use this service on our way back from the hotel to the airport on Sunday morning, when there wasn’t much traffic and before we even knew it, we had already reached the other side.

Then there is also the Kochi Water Metro that uses the harbor to get from one destination to another and is part of the overall Metro system. We didn’t use it, but retrospectively realized it would have taken me the same time from the Taj Vivanta in Ernakulam, where I had gone for a meeting, to Fort Kochi using the Water Metro, as it took me by road.

I wonder if Mumbai could ever have something like this perhaps with multiple jetties along the harbor connecting to Vashi and other Western and Central inland areas, through the various creeks and water bodies. Perhaps if we didn’t have such a well-developed rail system and now the new Metro, someone would have given this some thought.

Fort Kochi, like Fontainhas in Panjim is an amalgam of different influences…local, Portuguese, Dutch and British and has churches, mosques, one large Jain Derasar, all kinds of interesting architecture and quiet roads, many of which still have long-term residents, though the vast majority have become home-stays.

The Jain Derasar has a pigeon feeding time at 12:20 pm, where over 200 pigeons converge onto the feeding area from the rooftops, and tourists and devotees come to feed the pigeons. If you put some grain into your cupped palm, they are so unafraid they will hop onto your hand and eat up all that grain. 

I stayed a little away given my apprehension about pigeons after having seen so many cases of hypersensitivity pneumonitis in pigeon-feeders over the last 3 decades and took these pictures from a distance.

The morning walk on the promenade was lovely. From the hotel, the initial part of the walk is past the fishermen using the Chinese fishing nets and the adjacent fish market. In about a km, you come upon the open sea. 

The monsoon had already hit and the waves were choppy and transfixing and it was fun being so close to the water, the spray and the light drizzle together making you just that little wet without drenching you.

What struck us during the walk and even at other times, are the sheer number of local ice-cream brands from Skei to Captain John to Arun and other names I can’t remember. I tried a couple and they were nice, but nothing to write home about.

While Fort Kochi does not have the same number of pubs and bars as Fontainhas and Panjim partly I guess because of the beer and wine only rule (non 4-star and 5-star hotels are only given beer and wine licenses), the dining was still wonderful, whether it was an art cafe like Trouvaille or a club like Francis, the restaurant History in the hotel or Plan B. The food was always above average and at a price so much cheaper than a similar place in Mumbai.

In the end though it is all about the vibe. I’ve been to Kochi multiple times in the past and stayed in different parts of the city, but this was the first time in the Fort Kochi area and it is a place you can keep coming back to.